


a little bit of wisdom

by russiasnataliaa



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers Friendship, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Marriage, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Wisdom Teeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:02:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24634267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/russiasnataliaa/pseuds/russiasnataliaa
Summary: natasha gets her wisdom teeth removed; steve and james can't stop laughing at the random things coming out her mouth after her sedation.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov, Sharon Carter/Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov
Comments: 7
Kudos: 84





	a little bit of wisdom

**Author's Note:**

  * For [natsmoonlight](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=natsmoonlight).



> a gift for @natsmoonlight because she gave me the idea and i couldn't *not* write it <3.

“I really don’t see how this is necessary,” Natasha huffs as she crosses her ankles and rests her hands in her lap for what has to be the sixth time in a span of five minutes.

“Really?” Steve asks, unconvinced. “So you expected Buck to just, what? Let you stay home, knowing that you were in pain and _not_ get you an appointment?”

“Well…” she mumbles with a tilt of her head, knowing damn well that’s exactly what she hoped for, but not what she expected. She knew from the time he found out that her stupid wisdom tooth was bothering her that he’d go all mother hen (or father rooster?) on her and book her for the first available opening at the dentist.

“It won’t even take long. They’ll prep you and give you the sedation — ” She stopped listening after that because knowing what to expect would only give her more things to be anxious about. If there was one thing most people knew about Natasha, at least, the ones close to her, it was that she despised doctors, hospitals, and anything else that related to the medical field. But as much as she pleaded for James to believe her when she said she was fine, he wouldn’t buy it. It’d been bothering her for a while, really, and the pain mostly flared up when she ate or when she had to go to sleep. One particular night (about four days before now) had the bottom right side of her mouth and jaw throbbing strongly in cadence with her heart, her eyes stinging with the beginnings of unwanted tears as she got ready for bed. He’d noticed within five minutes of her coming to lay down that something was wrong and she’d gave in after she got tired of all his questioning.

 _“My tooth hurts,”_ was what she’d told him, and the statement had her wincing slightly, not out of pain, but from embarrassment at how utterly childish she sounded then. A grown woman whining to her husband about how her mouth was aching? Please. He’d taken her to the bathroom to examine her in better lighting and confirmed that the gum around her tooth was swollen and red, though, she knew that already.

 _“I’ll be fine. Just_ — _I just need some Tylenol and I’ll be good,”_ was what she’d said as she walked out the bathroom and crawled back into bed. James told her she was being silly, that he was getting her an appointment because “ _Pain killers can’t help a molar that_ probably — most likely, _needs to be pulled out, Nat._ ” She’d held back from rolling her eyes, regretting telling him in the first place.

 _“I don’t wanna go. I don’t_ need _to go,”_ was what she’d said when he joined her in bed, getting comfortable under the covers. He sighed when he heard that, knew that she’d reject the idea immediately because of her hate for doctors. But if it’s bothering her this much, she obviously needs to get it checked.

 _“Tasha, if you have to get it removed,_ if _mind you, I doubt it’ll be that bad.”_

 _She chuckles dryly and turns to him. “I don’t think you really have a say in how bad it’ll be if you haven’t_ actually _had yours taken out before. ‘Sides, you know how I feel about_ that _so why even suggest it?”_ He heard how soft her voice had gotten at the last part, and hummed in acknowledgement as he turned his body to her. James knew that for someone else, it probably wouldn’t be such a big deal. For Natasha, though, it’s nothing less than nerve-racking.

As someone who’s had her fair share of time in emergency rooms, butchered ‘surgeries’, and nights spent in the hospital (for both her and James), a trip to the dentist where there’s a chance of going under anesthesia or being sedated? Yeah, it wasn’t that high on her bucket list. He also knew what it was like to be surrounded by doctors — the feeling of being helpless, a room full of people with masks and gloves on, all the attention on you as you just _sit_ there and let them watch and work on you. He’s grown to hate the clean smell of rubbing alcohol and antiseptics. Natasha’s _always_ hated them — the first time they’d been heavily used on her was the day of her Graduation.

Then, there’s the Other Thing.

That “Other Thing” being that sometimes she panics in those settings. Being crowded at once or having to lay on a hospital bed or gurney facing up and a few other things can trigger memories from the Red Room. He predicts that the idea of her being sedated and not at her full attention or state of mind would only make it worse, make her even more nervous, but really, it’s all for the best. She’ll thank him in a few days when she can eat and talk properly without having pain shoot up to her head anymore.

Originally, James was supposed to be the one here with her today, but Fury had called him in for a meeting. _Perfect timing._ Steve, though, was more than happy to take her when James had asked, said that he didn’t have anything to do anyway and promised that he’d bring her back in one piece.

“ — and then we’d have you home by around five-thirty-ish depending on traffic, which should be just about an hour after Bucky gets back from his meeting. See?” He throws her a gentle smile from across the room. “It’ll be over before you know it.”

“Gee, can't wait,” she deadpans, and he laughs from his seat.

“God, no wonder why you guys are so perfect together.”

“Oh please, you missed my amazing humor, don’t even try to deny it,” she smirks and he shakes his head.

“Didn’t miss the fossil jokes, that’s for sure,” he replies. He’s glad he can get her mind off the procedure for now, at least bring her _some_ peace of mind in a rather uncomfortable setting for her. It seems to be working because within the next five minutes of him managing to talk about James (Steve has come to learn that having her talk or think about him _always_ works with calming her down), she’s almost back to her normal self, save for her taking a few unnecessary glances around the room every now and then.

It’s about fifteen minutes later when the oral surgeon comes to tell her that they’re about to start and her face drops slightly. She turns to look at Steve and he comes over in about two strides to tell her she’ll be fine and that he’ll be right by her side. When two nurses come in with equipment, her heart starts to beat a little faster because she feels like the room is getting too crowded already, despite it still being pretty spacious. Then, she remembers that before she came, while James had been booking her appointment, she overheard him asking that she didn’t have any unnecessary personal in the room and just the main people, which relaxes her a bit because these three seem to be the only ones that’ll be in here besides her and Steve. She looks to him one more time as he gives her a strong nod and mouths _‘You’re okay’_ before one of the nurses clean a spot on her arm for the needle to go in.

The last thing she thinks about before the sedation takes its full effect is James’ bright smile and soft touch.

  
  


* * *

  
  


It’s been about ten minutes after the surgery when Steve sees Natasha starting to wake up. After they'd removed her teeth (they’d taken out all four to avoid any problems in the future, which she was already aware of beforehand), they moved her to something similar to a hospital bed and placed her in a private recovery room. When he sees her eyes begin to flutter open, he stands from his chair and goes to her side.

“Hey, Nat,” he says softly, giving her a smile. “How’re you feelin’?” She tries to keep her eyes open fully but it takes a few moments for her to gain some kind of control. He reaches for the cup of water by the little table on the side and helps her take a sip. During this whole time, she’s watching him with slightly furrowed brows like she’s thinking hard.

“You… you Captain ‘Merica?” she asks groggily, pointing a finger at him.

He chuckles softly. “Yeah, I am.”

“Are you… You’re popular?”

He smiles. “Yeah, kinda.” _So are you._

“That’s _so_ cool.” Before she went under, the oral surgeon had warned him that Natasha would probably be pretty loopy after she woke up, and that it would take a few hours for it to really get out her system. He’d also advised that he ask her a few simple questions to get her mind jogging a little.

He brings his chair from across the room and places it at her bedside before asking, “Yeah, a little. Do you know your name?”

“Sure I do.”

“What is it?”

“Natalie Rushman…?”

“Is that a question or a statement?” he chuckles.

“A… statement.” He hums. “Your name’s Steef.”

He tries to hold back a laugh. “Steve Rogers, yeah.”

“Hey, Steef, what’s this?” She’s holding up her left hand and looking at the gold wedding band on her ring finger.

He smiles. “That’s your wedding ring.”

“‘M engaged?”

“No, married.”

She gasps slightly. “I’m… I’m getting married?”

“No— you’re _already_ married, Nat.”

“Oh.” Steve finds it funny that she’s more calm to the concept of her already being married rather than _not_ being married yet. “To who?”

“Bucky Barnes. You call him James.” When it clicks, she lights up at that, her face blushing immediately just at the mere mention of him.

“ _Oh_ , I love him _so_ much. He’s just… the absolute best.” She starts to tear up as she talks, clearly very emotional about her love for her husband, and Steve’s not sure whether to console her or let her cry it out — it’s not like she’s crying for a bad reason, right? “Like, I love him more than milkshakes… and I love milkshakes, a _lot_.” Her bottom lip pokes out and he starts to smile as she goes on about her appreciation for James until she asks if he’s here.

“No, but I’ll call him for you.” Steve’s smile grows bigger as he takes his phone out to call James, knowing how he’d enjoy hearing from her after the long meeting. When he picks up and Steve explains the situation, James can’t help but laugh as he asks him to hand the phone to her.

“‘Ello?”

“ _Tasha, hey._ ”

“I love you so, so much,” she whimpers.

“ _Awe, Nat, don’t cry. I love you, too._ ”

“I’m not crying.” she sniffles, which basically contradicts what she just said.

“ _Steve told me otherwise,_ ” He’s smiling over the phone, already imagining all her facial expressions.

She hums. “You haf a really nice voice.”

“ _So do you. A really pretty voice,_ ” he says, and she blushes as she turns to Steve in excitement. _This woman._

“Thank you. Did y’know Steef ‘s Captain ‘Merica?”

“ _Yeah, yeah I did,_ ” he replies, chuckling softly at her pronunciation of his best friend's name. “ _How’re you feeling?_ ”

“I… I don’t think I haf a mouf.”

“ _You’re talking right now, Nat._ ”

“But I can’t feel my, my mouf.” She brings her free hand up to feel her mouth and see if it's really there, but lifts her hand so fast that she ends up hitting her face instead. “Ow.”

“ _You okay? What’s wrong?_ ”

“I think I hit my nose.”

James snorts. “ _You think?_ ”

“I _am_ thinking.” Just as she says that, a nurse comes in, telling Steve that she needs to check on Natasha’s gauze and he nods.

“Hon, could you open your mouth for me for a sec?” Natasha looks confused again, but complies and tilts her head back. The nurse takes the old, bloodied gauze out and asks for her to keep her mouth open as she places new ones in.

“Bite down for me?” Natasha bites down as she stares at the blood on the nurses gloves.

“I’m bleeding?”

“Uh-huh, that’s why you gotta bite.”

“Okay.” She brings the phone back up when the nurse leaves. “I hafta bite.”

“ _Yeah, so you can stop the bleeding._ ”

“Are they gonna… they gonna take my blood?”

“ _No, why would they?_ ”

“I don’t know.” She’s saying anything that comes to her head at this point, and both James and Steve are enjoying it. She throws her head back and whines before saying, “Gosh, I’m so fucking hungry.” _Great, now she’s cursing._ Usually, Natasha doesn't curse, unless she's really upset — during those times she speaks in Russian and uses some _very_ colorful words — or frustrated, so for her to be cursing now she really is out of it.

“Nat, you can’t curse, there’s kids out in the hall.”

“I’m sorry,” she answers with a pout and Steve gives her a smile and tells her it’s okay.

“ _When you come home, there’s takeout here for you._ ”

“You’re gonna take me out?”

He laughs. “ _No, no. I have food for you. Chinese food._ ”

“I’m not Chinese.”

“ _I know. You’re Russian._ ”

“I’m not _rushing_ , I’m talking slow.” James has to pull the phone away from his face as he laughs because she sounds ridiculous and Steve has moved himself to face away from Natasha because he’s laughing at the fact that she’s being completely serious about everything she’s saying.

“Shit, now the snow is getting _everywhere_.” Steve realizes she’s looking at the handmade snowflakes hanging from the ceiling as early Christmas decorations and shakes his head in amusement.

“ _Watch your mouth. And I'm pretty sure it can’t snow indoors, Nat._ ”

“I can’t watch my mouth if I don’t haf one.” Now Dr. Sean, her oral surgeon, enters the room with a different nurse behind him.

“Mrs. Barnes, how’re we holding up?” he says as he walks to her bedside.

“It’s snowing in here, I think you should fith that,” she returns and he chuckles as he makes eye contact with Steve across from him.

“I’ll make sure that the snowing problem gets fixed, okay? Now can you open your mouth for a moment?” When she does, he takes out the two pieces of gauze and moves her head around slightly in different directions so he can get a better look at her gums and stitches before putting them back.

“Well, everything seems to be good. She just has to make sure to keep biting down until the bleeding stops, especially since she had all four removed.” He goes on to tell Steve (and technically James as well since he’s on speaker) about what she can and can’t eat for the next few days and how to handle her gums bleeding. Once he’s finished, he gives Steve the green-light to take her home. James gets off the phone after telling her he’d see her when she gets home, giving her an ‘ _I love you_ ’ that she blushes profusely at as Steve shakes his head. A little too excited to be leaving, she tries to get up on her own but stumbles on her foot and almost falls but Steve’s there to catch her since he expected that to happen. The previous nurse returns with a smile as she rolls in a wheelchair for her to sit in.

“‘S that your car?” Natasha asks, looking up at Steve as he tries to turn her body around.

“No, but it’s gonna help take you to my car,” he assures her, and that seems to satisfy her for the moment. After he helps her put her jacket on and she manages to get both her feet on the leg rests of the wheelchair, the nurse starts to roll her out, Steve right next to them.

“Can I go swimming?” Natasha asks when they pass a fish tank as they near the front door.

“Kinda cold for that, don’t you think?”

“Maybe. But the fish don’t look cold.” They continue talking about how she can’t go swim in the middle of October until they finally get to the car, where he tells the nurse he can take her from here and thanks her for bringing her out. He helps Natasha stand and has her grasp onto him as he helps bring her left foot into the car, followed by her head and then her right foot. Once she’s seated alright and she buckles her seatbelt, he gets in on the driver’s side and pulls out of the parking lot.

“Steefff...” she calls quietly after ten minutes into the drive and they're on the freeway. He hums and glances at her for a second to let her know he’s listening. She’s been quietly humming to herself rather than talking to him the whole time up until now, so he assumes she must be getting tired.

“My teef… I can’t feel ‘em.”

“Well, yeah, they took them out. And you’re not supposed to put your tongue on them, you'll bleed more.”

“I, I haf no teef?”

He chuckles. “No, you — ”

Natasha turns her head to face him. “You let them take my teef?” she asks. Clearly, she had no idea of why she had been bleeding or on the patient bed before, because now everything seems to be dawning on her.

“Nat, they had to. Your mouth was hurting you before, remember?”

“Yeah, but…” Her throat is getting tight and she feels her eyes stinging as she thinks about what Steve just told her. “But James won’t luf me if I haf no teef.”

“First off, you _have_ teeth, just four less than you did a day ago. And Buck loves you no matter what. Teeth or no teeth.” He hears her sniffle and he turns to find her crying again. _Just great._

“James can’t kith m-me if I don’t have any…” she whimpers, tears starting to fall down her face. “I don’t want him to not kith me ‘cause I really like his kithes.” The gauze in her mouth and the cracks in her voice make her sound like she has a _really_ bad lisp and it’s taking Steve a lot more effort than he’d easily admit to keep a straight face.

“Natasha,” Steve says softly.

“Hmm?”

“You see the mirror at the top?” He gestures toward the visor. “I promise you there’s teeth.” She pulls it down and opens her mouth to see that her teeth are definitely still there along with the gauze.

“Oh.” She puts the visor back up and sits back with a sniffle.

“I told you.” Natasha still has tears streaming down her face, though, Steve’s not sure why. She doesn’t say anything as she pulls out her phone from her coat pocket and opens the camera to look at herself, frowning when her eyes land on her cheeks.

“I was crying…” she says (Steve’s not sure if she’s asking or telling).

“I’d say it was more of a short meltdown rather than just crying, but, hey,” Steve says quietly to himself.

“And when did I dye my hair?” she asks, sloppily running a hand through the thick curls she did earlier this morning.

“You didn’t. That’s your natural color.”

“Oh.” Steve doubts she’s retaining any of what he’s telling her right now. He could’ve told her her hair used to be brown and she’d still say ‘ _oh_ ’. “Are we almost home?”

“Yeah, just about five more minutes.” Sure enough, five minutes later, they’re pulling up in front of their complex. James, who Steve had called earlier to help with Natasha, walks to the car and opens the door for her with a smile that she returns. 

“Hey, doll.” He unbuckles her seatbelt and turns her whole body sideways so she’s facing him, leads her out slowly until she’s standing while Steve goes to hold the door open for them. He looks up at Steve as he mouths a quick ‘ _Was she crying again?_ ’ after he notices a few tear lines still on her face. Steve gives him a facial expression that says ‘ _I’ll tell you later_ ’ and James nods. Eventually, they all get upstairs to their apartment and lead Natasha to the living room couch.

“Stay here, don’t move. I’ll get you something to eat.” She nods slowly as James and Steve move toward the kitchen as they talk about how her surgery went.

“She was crying ‘cause she thought you wouldn’t wanna kiss her again,” Steve chuckles. James reaches for the bag with the takeout and pulls out a container of wonton soup. He walks to one of the top cabinets and pulls out a bowl, face scrunched up in confusion.

“Kiss— why wouldn’t I wanna kiss her?” Since she can’t eat any solids, he empties the soup into the bowl and leaves the wontons in the container.

“She thought she had no teeth. She probably thought it would feel like kissing an old person,” Steve snorts. “I made her pull down the visor and take a look.”

“Funny thing is, she’s not gonna remember any of this,” James chuckles. He gets a spoon from one of their drawers and walks back to the living room. She’s laying on the couch with one leg hanging off the side and one of her hands feeling around her mouth for the gauze.

“Nat, babe, you gotta stop touching it,” James tells her as he sits down and pulls her hand away gently.

“But my froat…” she whines.

“What’s wrong with your throat?”

“I’m choking.” _Dramatic much?_

“Is it bothering you?” he asks as he looks into her mouth and she nods. “‘Kay, well we gotta take ‘em out anyway since you’re about to eat.”

“You’re about to eat?”

“Yes, _you’re_ about to eat.” James has her sit up and helps to take off her bomber jacket and boots before handing her the bowl.

“Not eating wif me?” she asks when he walks to the coat rack by the front door, hanging up her jacket and placing her boots down.

“Yeah, I am. I’ll be back in a second.” She hums as he walks back to the kitchen where Steve is. “You wanna stay and eat? There’s extra since she can’t eat most of this stuff.”

“Nah, I promised Sharon we’d watch a movie and order in tonight after I got Nat home.” Steve smiles just at the thought of going home to his girlfriend, wrapping his arms around her as they cuddle and watch a cheesy rom-com.

“Mmm, is that what the kids are callin’ it these days?” James smirks and nudges Steve with his elbow as he takes out his own food, bringing a laugh from the other man.

“Shut up,” he says, nudging James back. “But thanks. You gonna be good here with her?”

James scoffs. “Good? Punk, I’m gonna be _great_ and the both of us are gonna have a blast. Right Nat?” Natasha, who was occupying herself by looking at the throw pillows, turns to look at them and gives a nod.

“I’m so convinced,” Steve says, but his face telling another story and James snorts. They hug goodbye and Steve lets himself out before James joins Natasha back on the couch. She’s sitting back, the bowl resting in her lap, as her eyes open and close halfway like she’s falling asleep, a side effect of the sedation. He gets her to open her mouth again to remove the gauze so she can eat and she’s more than glad that she’s not ‘choking’ anymore. Dinners, or any meal for that matter, with Natasha are usually gone through in comfortable silence with a few words or jokes shared throughout. And if there _is_ a conversation going on, it makes sense. Tonight though…

“Where’s our dog?” James stops mid-bite to look over at her, only to find her looking back. She’s serious about this, her eyebrows furrowed like she’d been thinking about this for a while now.

“We don’t have one.”

“We don’t? But I thought…” The rest of what she says makes absolutely no sense, and even if it did, James wouldn’t know because she’s speaking slow but jumbling all her words together like a drunk person. It’s about twenty seconds later when her rambling stops and James pretends to understand what she said, which seems to make her happy because she goes back to eating quietly.

  
  


* * *

  
  


“Fuck… I feel so _good_ , like I’m flying.” Dealing with a drugged up ( _medically_ ) Natasha is different than James expected. He thought she'd be pretty groggy or more quiet than she usually is, but so far he’s only getting the opposite. After they’d finished eating (or after _he_ finished since she started complaining at the fact that she couldn’t taste anything), he’d helped her off the couch, walked her upstairs to their room and sat her down on the bed.

“That sounds nice. I think.”

Natasha giggles into his chest. “Is this what it’s like being high?” she asks, then gasps as she freezes. “Did you get me high? I’ve never done drugs before…” Now he’s trying to undress her to get ready for bed. He’s managed to remove her socks and get her jeans halfway off, but as he’s taking off her hoodie, she catches a case of the giggles.

James chuckles. “No, Tasha, you’re not high.” Just as he pulls her left arm out of it’s sleeve, she falls back gently to lay down, red curls fanning out against the white sheets. “You’re just… loopy. _Very_ loopy.”

“Like… Fruit Loops?” she asks, and she’s laughing again as he pulls her back up. He can't help but laugh with her because if Natasha were in her right mind, none of these things would be coming out her mouth, so seeing her so out of character is even more funny.

He hums. “Mhmm, just like Fruit Loops.” _Whatever that’s supposed to mean._ He pulls her other arm out and lifts the sweater over her head, resting it to the side. On her right arm, Natasha has a small square piece of gauze held by a strip of tape where the IV was stuck for her surgery. She pokes at it and brushes her finger over it a few times before looking back up.

“My arm is broken.”

“S’not broken, just a bruise.” He holds up his hand and squeezes his forefinger and thumb together, leaving a barely visible space in between. “Really tiny.”

“Oh.” She sighs softly and moves to lay back down, but James catches her midway and pulls her back up.

“We gotta get you undressed if you wanna sleep. Unless you wanna get in bed with jeans and all this instead of pajamas,” he says, gesturing toward her camisole and bra.

“I can sleep in jeans…” she says quietly, and James bends down to tug her feet out of the pant legs.

“Yeah, but you won’t be very comfortable.” He folds them and places them with her sweater, then walks over to her dresser. “D’you want one of my shirts or something of yours?” A long time ago, James had decided to transfer a lot of his clothing into Natasha’s dresser and closet for her. It makes things easier. After a few seconds, she settles on one of his shirts and he chooses a navy short sleeve for her. If he’s being honest, Natasha could probably dress herself (except for getting her own clothes since her balance seems to be that of a two year old), but still does it anyway because he likes to help her (especially after a long day like today), knows if it were him in her place, he’d like for someone to help him, too. Besides, it’s the least he can do for her.

Once he’s gotten her dressed for bed, he leads her to their en suite to brush her teeth. Those few minutes are spent with him reminding her _not_ to brush over the spaces, to take her time otherwise she’ll start bleeding again. When that’s done, Natasha insists she can walk on her own now and James let’s go while he puts away her clothes from earlier. She takes her time walking across the room, short measured steps until she reaches a foot away from the bed, but just as she goes to climb on top, her knee misses the edge completely and she collapses face first on the duvet. And, unsurprisingly, she thinks it’s hilarious.

“You’re helpless,” James says with a fond look, walking over to her and lifting her up under her arms and tossing her laughing form gently on the bed. He joins her then, turning off the lights when they’re both situated comfortably under the blankets and cuddled close. Technically, it’s only about seven, but _God_ she needs the sleep. He knows by the time she wakes up she’ll be back to herself with probably no memory of anything she’s saying or doing now. When he looks down, he finds that she already has her eyes closed, listening to his heartbeat as she uses his chest as a pillow.

“Goodnight,” he kisses the crown of her head and caresses her cheek. “I love you.”

She smiles at that, a small blush appearing on her face. “I love you, too.” James sighs contentedly and relaxes even more, a smile on his face as he thinks about all the things he can tease Natasha about tomorrow, though, he knows she’ll try and deny all of it.

**THE END**

**Author's Note:**

> as always, leave comments and kudos, i love everyone's feedback <3.


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